1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of animal halters, and more specifically, to a horse halter with a nose band, chin strap and sliding jaw strap that together create a clamping pressure on the forward portion of the horse's nose and jaw, as well as on the horse's poll, when the lead rope is pulled.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing horse halters generally come in two forms—a rope halter and a strap halter. The strap halter is constructed of strap and hardware and sewn together to form the halter shown in FIG. 1. The rope halter is constructed of rope and hand-tied to form the halter shown in FIG. 3. When used to control a horse, both of these halters exert pressure on the horse's poll, which is the area behind the ears, but they do not exert pressure anywhere else. Neither of these halters incorporates a chin strap, and neither one exerts any pressure at all on the horse's nose or jaw, which is a much more sensitive area than the horse's poll.
Horses can exert a great deal of counter-pressure in the poll area, which is why they often tear or rip through the halters depicted in FIGS. 1-4. FIGS. 2 and 4 show the prior art strap and rope halters, respectively, when the horse handler pulls on the lead rope. As illustrated in these figures, the only pressure that these halters exert is in the poll area of the horse. No pressure is exerted downward on the nose or upward on the jaw. Because horses are so much more sensitive in the nose area than they are in the poll area, a halter that exerted pressure on the horse's nose while simultaneously maintaining the jaw in a stationary position so as to create a clamping action between nose and jaw would be much more effective in controlling the horse than a halter that exerted pressure solely in the poll area or even one that exerted pressure downward on the nose without simultaneously exerting pressure upward on the jaw.
There are a number of patents that have been issued for various types of horse halters, including, by way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 28,121 (Whitehead, 1860); U.S. Pat. No. 100,031 (Harris, 1870); U.S. Pat. No. 200,720 (Henkell, 1878); U.S. Pat. No. 237,031 (Mauk et al., 1881); U.S. Pat. No. 251,074 (Stowell, 1881); U.S. Pat. No. 255,395 (Rorebeck, 1882); U.S. Pat. No. 286,602 (Garfield, 1883); U.S. Pat. No. 288,595 (Rorebeck, 1883); U.S. Pat. No. 321,957 (Enoch, 1885); U.S. Pat. No. 428,898 (Duncan, 1890); U.S. Pat. No. 432,414 (Knight, 1890); U.S. Pat. No. 462,743 (Sisson, 1891); U.S. Pat. No. 660,494 (Evans, 1900); U.S. Pat. No. 904,321 (Farrar, 1908); U.S. Pat. No. 923,369 (McClintock, 1909); U.S. Pat. No. 925,372 (McClintock, 1909); U.S. Pat. No. 1,325,061 (Veal, 1919); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,925 (Woodruff, 1984).
Of particular note are U.S. Pat. No. 100,031 (Harris, 1870), which covers a strap halter in which the nose strap passes through a first ring underneath the horse's jaw and is fixedly attached to a second ring also located underneath the horse's jaw and through which the tie-strap (or hitching strap) passes, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,925 (Woodruff, 1984), which covers a rope halter in which the reins pass through rings on either side of the horse's jaw and then through a ring underneath the horse's jaw. Both of these halters provide some degree of pressure on the top of the horse's nose, but neither one exerts a clamping pressure on the forward portion of the horse's nose and jaw. The halter described in the '031 patent does not exert any clamping pressure on the horse's nose and jaw because the strap underneath the horse's jaw is not fixedly attached to the nose band (in other words, it is free to move downward when pressure is exerted on the nose band) and because there is no chin strap. The halter described in the '925 patent achieves a clamping action of sorts, but the clamping action is not on the forward portion of the horse's nose and jaw; instead, it is further back toward the horse's throat. The further forward the clamping action, the more uncomfortable it is for the horse, which makes the halter of the present invention more effective than that of the '925 patent.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a horse halter that more effectively controls the horse than prior art halters by effectuating a clamping action on the forward portion of the horse's nose and jaw when the lead rope is pulled. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a horse halter that is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.